


Watching Him Sleep

by vianne78



Series: Nate [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Developing Relationship, Drabble, Friendship/Love, M/M, Post-Blind Betrayal, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-28 02:59:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10822332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vianne78/pseuds/vianne78
Summary: Danse is trying not to fall asleep just yet.In case you were wondering what actually happened when they went to bed.





	Watching Him Sleep

Danse was sprawled on the couch right next to Nate’s bed.  
He stifled a yawn and let his head sink on the pillows Nate always had plenty of on the sofa. (Nate’s friends - and settlers - had quickly learned to enjoy the benefits of fluffy piles of pillows, among other things, and had long ago stopped complaining about his habit of hoarding seemingly unnecessary things.) Danse was supposed to be sleeping, too, but the chance to let his eyes linger on the other man, uninterrupted - and without witnesses -, had been too good to pass up.  
Nate looked so peaceful. Compared to the average wastelander, his skin was smooth and healthy, but now, in his sleep, even the few worried lines he had were gone. Under the shadow of the stubble he looked almost boyish, younger than his thirtysomething years.

He was also very handsome, Danse admitted to himself, idly rubbing his hand over his heart. Sunlight was already filtering softly through the patchwork drapes, playing on the strong line of Nate's jaw and his full mouth.  
His hair was so like Arthur’s - or rather, Arthur’s hair had been like Nate’s -, longer on top and cut neatly almost to the scalp on the sides. Usually it was in tight control and combed away from his face, but now it was tousled, rogue black locks reaching his cheek. Danse’s hand twitched to brush them away from his face. He caught himself just in time. 

Nate was breathing silently, so slowly in his deep sleep, Danse had to really concentrate to hear it, or to see his broad, bare chest rise and fall. Danse had been used to being the biggest man in the room, but Nate was just as tall, his body just as massive. The Paladin had been fascinated from the beginning. 

Nate had appeared out of nowhere with Dogmeat by his side, right in the middle of a nearly desperate fight against a horde of ferals. Wearing the blue Vault jumpsuit with some pieces of cleverly modified armor strapped over it, looking grim and focused under his pilot shades. And damn if Danse hadn’t been thoroughly impressed with the way he had mown through the ghouls with his dog and automatic combat rifle. Controlled, disciplined. Clearly a soldier. 

Afterwards Danse had waited for the stranger to approach him to demand some answers.  
“We appreciate the assistance, civilian, but what’s your business here?”  
That’s when Nate had removed the shades to look at him, and Danse had had to use every ounce of his training not to flinch.  
Blue. His eyes were big, sharp, and the most astonishing shade of blue Danse had ever seen.  
Brilliant and beautiful like the deepest cerulean sky, and they seemed to look right through you. Right into your darkest secrets and fears.

The Paladin had hidden his reaction under a stern mask, but had hastily seized the opportunity to temporarily recruit the Vault Dweller. At the time he had told himself the recruiting was necessary to be able to retrieve the tech they had desperately needed, but the truth was much simpler. He had wanted to keep the stranger from leaving just yet.

Danse thought he had managed to keep a straight face pretty well, but then he had not been able to resist the urge to flip his helmet in front of the blue-eyed newcomer. Like a prancing adolescent trying to impress a crush. He had not missed the long looks the uncharacteristically frivolous move had earned from his subordinates.  
Danse grinned at the thought now, grateful his memories no longer merely hurt, and he had Nate to thank for that, too.  
He had initially hired Nate to follow him, but in the end, he had been the one to follow Nate. And he wouldn’t change a thing.

***

The Vault Dweller rolled on his side, and his hand slid over the edge of the bed to hang right in front of Danse’s face, all but resting on his pillows. Like the guy it was attached to, the hand was big and beautiful. The fingers were long, even elegant, and Danse knew them to be nimble and very strong. Pianist’s hands, he remembered Nate once saying, wearing one of his sadder smiles, the description clearly bringing back some memories from his pre-war life.

The former Paladin snuggled deeper into the pillows and his own, calloused and scarred hand settled next to Nate’s. He sleepily noted again that the other man’s skin smelled pleasantly of soap and something warm, distinctly male but faintly sweet. This time Danse lost to a yawn that damn near dislocated his jaw. He gave in and pulled a soft blanket haphazardly over his shoulder. Nate was so close he could not only smell him, but almost hear his heartbeat, too, and it calmed Danse like nothing else ever had. 

As Danse finally drifted to sleep, his hand relaxed against Nate’s, and all on their own, like it was the most natural thing for them to do, their fingers lightly curled together.


End file.
